BLACK SEA BUSINESS DAY CONFERENCE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL H.E. MR. KEMAL DERVIS, MINISTER OF STATE OF TURKEY, GUEST OF HONOUR AT THE INAUGURAL RECEPTION
Press Release | 15-Apr-2002
The 2002 Black Sea Business Day organized by BSTDB on the occasion of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Bank’s Board of Governors has been highly successful. The conference which was held on the 15th of April focused on opportunities and prospects for trade and investment in the greater Black Sea region and gathered more than 400 participants including Ministers, high ranking government officials, representatives of international financial institutions, as well as banks and many industrial companies active in the region. The event, supported by the Ministry of National Economy of Greece and the Agricultural Bank of Greece, was inaugurated on Sunday the 14th of April during a reception in the Megaron Mousikis of Thessaloniki. This reception was co-organized by BSTDB - represented by the Bank’s President, Mr. Mustafa Gürtin - and by the City of Thessaloniki, represented by the Mayor, Mr. Vassilis Papageorgopoulos. H.E. Mr. Kemal Dervis, Minister of State of Türkiye, H.E. Mr. Akis Tsochadzopoulos, Minister of Development of Greece, and H.E. Mr. Georges Paschalidis, Minister for Makedonia and Thrace, participated in the inaugural ceremony.In the Business Day conference, three round table discussions highlighted important issues for the future of the Black Sea region, such as the importance of creating strong banking systems, of developing the SME sector and of increasing trade and investment in the Black Sea Region. Among the personalities of ministerial rank participating in the Black Sea Business Day were H.E. Ms. Silvia Ciornei (Romania), H.E. Mr. George Floridis (Greece), H.E. Mr. Vardan Khachatryan (Armenia) and Ms. Tatiana Paramonova (Russian Federation). International institutions were represented by Ms. Noreen Doyle, First Vice President of EBRD, Dr. Alfred Steinherr, Chief Economist of EIB, Mr. Apostolos Theodorakis (European Commission), Mr. Paul Henri Ravier, Deputy Director of the WTO, and Mr. Apolonio Ruiz Ligero, Vice Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank.
The Black Sea Business Day was also a unique occasion to develop stronger business relations between Türkiye, Romania and Greece. In this context, H.E. Mr. Kemal Dervis, H.E. Ms. Silvia Ciornei and H.E. Mr. Vardan Khachatryan had working meetings organized at the initiative of BSTDB with Mr. George Paschalidis, the Minister of Makedonia and Thrace, with high-level representatives of the business community of Northern Greece and with the Mayor of Thessaloniki.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine. The BSTDB headquarters is in Thessaloniki, Greece. With an authorized capital of SDR 1 billion (approx. USD 1,3 billion), the Bank supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing financing, guarantees, and equity for projects supporting both public and private enterprises in its Member Countries. Since the commencement of operations in 1999, BSTDB's Board of Directors has approved 44 projects totaling over USD 360 million.